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Friday, January 21, 2011

Although I've never made much of a fuss over Valentine's Day in the past, I haven't turned my nose up at some lovely flowers and gifts on the occasion either. I CAN tell you though honestly, truly, never have I ever felt the need to DECORATE for it.

I don't know if it's having my own house or trying to keep things fun month to month with my 3 year old, but it didn't take much to push me over the edge into putting up something a little bit festive to ring in the love month (and yes, I realize we still have a week of January left).

I had never actually ordered anything from Spoonflower before, but since Free Swatch Day awhile back, I've been getting emails from them and been an active participant in voting in each week's challenge. I figure the fact that I'm a fabric designer wannabe (with no actual designing or artistic ability which is what will KEEP me a wannabe for life) gives me the keen sensibilities to help out some aspiring designers with actual talent by voting for the fabrics I like and when I feel so moved actually purchasing something. This one was submitted a few weeks ago as part of the design a banner on a fat quarter challenge and though it did NOT win, I still thought it was the kind of love-y decoration I could get on board with.

Keep in mind this fabric, like all the fabrics on Spoonflower, is printed to order so it doesn't ship immediately. I put my order in on January 11th and it arrived today. Still in PLENTY of time to whip it together (couldn't be simpler really) and pop it up in my entryway to bring something a bit festive back into my house (since the walls have been pretty much barren since Christmas came down).

I live in West Michigan and it's all cold weather and gloomy skies here (has been for some time now). A little red and pink really helped lift the Blahs this afternoon. Does anyone else toss a little red and pink around their house this time of year? Or is that so grade school classroom?

Charm Squares - twice (haven't had a chance to blog the 2nd swap yet as it happened right around Christmas).

Vintage Sheet Quilt Squares. (Had LOADS of fun with this one and would love to participate in something like this again. Still waiting on a few squares and then I get to start working on actually putting the quilt together . . . )

Giveaways:

HOSTED: Two. Wow . . . that's really feeble. Maybe I can work up some more in the new year because I . . .

WON: Loads. Why did I not document all the ones I won? Seriously. The truth is, I got a lot of cool stuff from many very talented bloggers over the course of the last year. In this last Sew Mama Sew giveaway day alone I won 5! Man, I love the handmade community. Quite a generous bunch of people they are. (Sorry . . . apparently I was channeling Yoda in that last sentence.)

Sewing Notions Reviewed (no one has asked, but I definitely want to do more of these in 2011 because when I was a complete novice I LOVED posts like these). You can check out all the "Tools of the Trade" posts I've done since this blog's inception right here.:

Organized (more stuff than I actually blogged about. I need to refine the way I'm organizing my fabric and some of my supplies in my sewing room as I'm still living out of a few very NON-organized boxes. A project for 2011? Methinks so.):

Watercolor Paint Cards (this one I actually did NOT write, but I hosted this great post on my blog and it's worth mentioning again. Thanks again, Cynthia!)

Your Questions Answered (In 2010, I started sleuthing around for answers to your sewing questions and had quite a lot of fun with it. If you've got any more burning questions you can always shoot me an email or comment on any post):

WHEW!. I'm kind of glad I compiled this list because I wasn't sure I really got too much accomplished in 2010. Woot. :)

Here's to more creativity in 2011. Onward and Upward and all that jazz.

Oh . . . and Happy New Year everyone!

P.S. If you made it all the way to the end of this VERY LONG post and want to be my best friend (LOL!), please leave me a comment telling me about a few of your accomplishments for the year (sewing or otherwise!) and/or let me know which posts you most enjoy reading. I can guarantee I'll still write about whatever comes to mind, but it'd be nice to know what's grabbing your fancy while you're here. I'm not above catering to a few of your whims once in awhile too. Within reason, of course. ;)
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